“A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought — they must be earned.”
Naval Ravikant
Daily Quote: Naval Ravikant
Category: Blog posts
Life with Diabetes
It’s World Diabetes Day today. I had the displeasure of being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2016. It is what it is though and what choice does one have but to accept it and learn to work around it. I am determined however to get it into remission and I will succeed. For now, I will share what seems to work for me at the moment, however do bear in my mind that this is based on my personal experience and is not an sort of medical or dietary advice.
My Diet
There is no doubt that controlling your blood sugar takes more than just diet but what you eat does play the biggest role. The following has worked for me based on trial and error:
- Refined carbs are not my friend. I will still enjoy a piece of cake here and there but I don’t make a habit of it
- Sweeteners, and this includes natural sweeteners like Xylitol, cause a spike in my blood sugar so I just don’t bother with them
- I stick to drinking water, and unsweetened black coffee. I have started drinking unsweetened black tea as well.
- Intermittent fasting (IF) really helps as well. I stick to the 16:8 fast but I have learnt that fasting alone is not enough. Discipline is required in that 8 hr eating window. I have worked from home since lockdown started and found myself constantly “grazing”. I slowly gained 4 of the 6 kg’s I had lost in the first 3 months of following IF. Of course it wasn’t just the constant nibbling, it was also the lack of movement every day that caused the weight gain. I have a timer so that I ensure I don’t eat for 2,5hrs at a time for now. I plan on getting myself to two meals a day before year end.
- My blood sugar readings also appear to be affected by my weight. When I lose weight, I have lower readings. When I gain weight then my average reading rises as well. It seems to take as little as a 2-3kg change in weight to make a difference. Clearly it is in my best interest to keep the number on the scale moving in a downward direction.
The Power of Exercise
I am not exercise’s greatest fan but I have finally accepted it’s importance in maintaining good overall health and in keeping my blood sugar levels within a normal range. Diabetes is known to take a toll on one’s heart so it is important to maintain good heart health and that is where exercise comes in. Since self-discipline is not my strength when it comes to this topic, I have signed up with a personal trainer to make exercise a habit in my life. I have to admit that after 2 weeks, I look forward to our sessions and feel fantastic after them. My circulation has clearly improved and I appear less prone to retaining water. My average blood sugar reading has also lowered over the last 2 weeks so this was clearly a great decision on my part. 😜
Stress Management
I was blown away when I saw the difference stress makes to my readings. I immediately know when I have underlying stress. It’s right there in my blood sugar readings. It is actually quite scary how much stress affects my body. On the flip side, I have also noticed how spending time with certain people in my life results in lower levels regardless of what I eat when I am with them. These people are good for my body, mind and soul. It’s important to never underestimate the damage stress can do so I try to keep my stress levels as low as possible. Some of the techniques I use to de-stress are:
- Dancing at the end of the day to my favourite music. It as has the added benefit of getting the circulation going burning off excess sugar in my blood.
- Reading. I can happily spend an entire weekend reading.
- Focusing on a conversation with my son or cooking/baking with him. It requires me to live in the moment. It is an amazing feeling and I love doing it (When he allows me to)
- Connecting with friends, although, it is mostly via whatsapp these days
- Meditating every morning for 10 minutes. I am so thrilled that I have kept this up for over a month now. I am well on my way to making this a habit! (Whoop whoop)
- Saying my morning mantras in the shower. I say mantras to keep myself aligned with my purpose. It is so calming to say these at the start of the day
- My morning prayer. I find it so peaceful to start the day giving thanks for what is and what will be and just handing the day over to God.
- Journal writing. I love writing. I have a normal journal as well as a special gratitude journal. The one thing I have noticed is that when I am consistent about writing in my gratitude journal, I get wonderful surprises ever so often. How cool is that!
- A candle-lit bubble bath, especially on a exercise day. I also use this as my visualisation time.
I don’t view diabetes as a life long disease. I choose to view it as something that can be overcome and that is what I plan on doing. My first milestone is to start 2021 free of meds.😁 It is to be respected at all times though or it will do some serious damage. If you have been diagnosed with it and don’t take it seriously, then I invite you to reconsider this choice, to start monitoring what causes your spikes and to work around them. You have everything to gain from doing so. If you are prediabetic do what ever you can to turn that diagnosis around.
I wish you all the success in keeping a diabetes diagnosis under control. It can be done. 😉
2 years 11 days of our new reality
I miss my mom. 2 years and 11 days of not being able to talk to her, to visit her or even to argue with her. Yesterday was the worst day yet. She was on my mind at every turn. I guess it took me totally by surprise.
Yesterday I was doing a “values”exercise. I was trying to determine what is important to me and why. Two of the questions that I needed to ask myself was: “What do I surround myself with in my personal space” and “What do I spend my energy on?”. My room is filled with books and puzzles and stationary and that is what I spend a lot of my time doing. Reading, writing and doing crossword puzzles, Sudoku, etc. I started thinking of how a love of puzzles was something that we shared. I can picture her sitting in her room with the Natal Witness puzzle page. She had her favourite puzzle. I can’t remember what it was called but it required you to make as many words as possible out of the 9 or so letters provided. My sister, her son and I definitely share a love of puzzles with her. In my sister and her son, it manifests as a love for picture puzzles while my mum and I enjoyed word and number puzzles.
I also got my affinity for accounting from her. She worked as a bookkeeper most of her life. I will never forget how she beamed with pride after our school awards ceremony. I received the 1st place award for accounting and it was mentioned that I had broken the school’s record for accounting in grade 8 (called std 6 back then). My mother was a very modest person and expected the same of us but that day, that day she threw caution to the wind and told everyone how “I got it from her”. I was so shocked and happy. I don’t think I have ever heard her take credit for anything since. On the weekend before she passed, it was the first time in a very long time that all the sisters were together with her. She was so thrilled to have us all together. I was saying to her that Alex most definitely got his love for soccer from her. You may never have seen her at a match but she always watched it on TV. When Alex was a baby and as he got older, he had no choice but to watch soccer and soapies whenever she looked after him. She refused to take the credit and insisted he was more interested in 7de Laan (a South African soapie).
What I definitely did not get from her was her organisational ability. She made sure that the house ran like clockwork. We never wanted for the basics, no matter how much or little money there was at any point in time. She was very intentional about how she used money. A skill I am desperately trying to teach myself now. She always made sure my car license was paid on time as my car was still registered in PMB and I live in Durban. We had a system. I had one of her debit orders come off my account and she stashed that cash for me in an envelope next to her TV. It was my Royal Show spending money every May and my Car license money in September. it was just one of the little ways that we connected. Let me tell you, my car license has not been paid on time since she has left us, much to my bank account’s distress. Being disorganised is a costly exercise I tell you. I might not have inherited that ability but my sister Carolyn, definitely inherited it from her.
The parking spot I plotting yesterday turned out to be taken by an Atos just like the one that she used to drive. I was so surprised that I almost said to Alex: “Look! Granny’s here”. I guess I have being feeling very disconnected from her of late. I would like to believe that all the little reminders of her that were placed before me in various ways yesterday, was her way of letting me know that she is still near even when it doesn’t feel like it.
When it comes right down to it, she will always be a part of each of us. When we look in the mirror, we see some element of her. My sisters and I, and I think all her grandchildren, have her chin and neck. We realised that night we were all together in the hospital that we all wear glasses like she did. 😁 Almost all her grandchildren inherited her talent for baking. We are all blessed with some element of her skills and personality that allowed each of us to connect with her in our own way while she was here and that we can use to connect with her now that she has passed on. I will take comfort in that.
I hope that you and your families continue to take precautions against the coronavirus. It’s a such a stealthy little bugger. Wash and sanitise your hands, wear your mask correctly, keep a safe following distance, and avoid going out as much as you can. Prevention is better than cure after all.
#Staysafe
Grounded African 